The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling an automatic cleaner.
Cleaners may suction and remove a foreign substance from a cleaning surface. Recently, automatic cleaners have been introduced for performing a cleaning operation automatically. Automatic cleaners are moved by the driving force of a motor powered by a battery, to suction and remove a foreign substance from a floor or other target surface.
Generally, a moving device is installed on a casing defining an appearance of an automatic cleaner. The moving device moves the automatic cleaner in a predetermined direction to suction a foreign substance from a floor. To this end, a suction port is disposed in the bottom of the casing to suction a foreign substance from a floor. A main brush, which directly contacts a foreign substance to suction the foreign substance through the suction port, may be disposed within the suction port.
However, the automatic cleaner suctions only a foreign substance located in a region underneath the casing, specifically, underneath the suction port. Thus, it may be difficult to effectively clean a region outside the footprint of the suction port.
To address this issue, a side brush may be disposed on the bottom of the casing. At least one portion of the side brush extends outside the footprint of the casing.
The side brush rotates relative to the casing to move a foreign substance located outside the footprint of the casing, specifically, outside the footprint of the suction port, toward the suction port.
However, such automatic cleaners have the following limitations.
As described above, since a foreign substance located outside the footprint of the suction port can be suctioned through the suction port by means of rotation of the side brush, as the length of the side brush is increased, a cleaning area of the automatic cleaner is substantially increased. However, when the length of the side brush is increased, the side brush may be damaged while the automatic cleaner is in a cleaning operation or is stored. In addition, when the length of the side brush is increased, the automatic cleaner requires a large storage space. Thus, it may be inconvenient to store the automatic cleaner.